Email Marketing with Blackbaud NetCommunity- Boot Camp Series
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This document summarizes an email marketing presentation on designing effective emails. It provides tips on keeping email design simple with tables and inline styles, testing across clients, keeping content brief, and ensuring deliverability through list hygiene and authentication. Design considerations include width, fonts, links and allowing for degradation. Metrics show shorter subjects and more links increase engagement, while larger lists see reduced rates.
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Email Marketing with Blackbaud NetCommunity- Boot Camp Series
- 1. 03/09/2013 1 EMAIL MARKETING WITH BLACKBAUD NETCOMMUNITY Presented by: Kaine Costello, Enterprise Account Manager Chris Bell, Web Developer & NetCommunity Consultant Email Design and Deliverability
- 2. 03/09/2013 2 LET’S GET STARTED…
- 3. 03/09/2013 3 SIMPLE, EFFICIENT, AND EFFECTIVE EMAIL DESIGN
- 4. 03/09/2013 4 • Email Clients, such as Outlook, Hotmail and Gmail still often render their emails in very different ways • There are web standards set for Browsers by the W3C but this has not extended to email clients • Therefore one must expect a large degree of variation in the rendering of your emails across various email clients • The easiest way to mitigate this is starting with a simple design and only adding what you need • Then test, test, test! WHY KEEP IT SIMPLE?
- 5. 03/09/2013 5 EXAMPLE *PROVIDED BY CAMPAIGNMONITOR.COM
- 6. 03/09/2013 6 • Use tables to build the layout of your email as divs and style sheets are not fully supported • Keep things simple but err towards nested tables to create complex areas of the email • Use inline styles as CSS style sheets are still not fully supported. • If you choose to use CSS style sheets consider how the email will display if the style sheet is stripped out. • Understand that the email clients will make many presumptions about anything you do not specify EMAIL CODE BASICS
- 7. 03/09/2013 7 • Branding – usually your logo and colours • Reasonable, relevant subject line. Don’t be caught as Spam! • Short content with images to engage and multiple links to entice click- through • Contact information • Opt out • Test it! WHAT ARE THE DESIGN BASICS?
- 8. 03/09/2013 8 A SIMPLE, EFFICIENT EMAIL DESIGN
- 9. 03/09/2013 9 • You will be in many situations where you need more than the simple template • Plan ahead • Add only what you need to avoid problems. An email newsletter is not the same as a printed newsletter. • If you can, code the html instead of using the WYSIWYG • Keep it even simpler if you are using the WYSIWYG or use a template • Know the limitations of emails and plan for them • Test! BEYOND THE BASICS – CODE AND COMPLEXITY
- 10. 03/09/2013 10 • Use tables, support for divs is limited • Use inline styles, support for style sheets is limited • Keep email width 600px or less • Err towards nesting tables in creating your layout but only do this as needed or you will overcomplicate things • Do NOT use JavaScript – your email will end up as spam • Avoid shorthand • Avoid spacer images • Do not use floats • Test, test, test! A SHORT SAMPLE OF THE LONG LIST EMAIL LIMITATIONS
- 11. 03/09/2013 11 A COMPLEX BUT USABLE DESIGN
- 12. 03/09/2013 12 • Do you need it? If not, get rid of it. • Do you really need it? If not, get rid of it. • This includes colours, fonts and formatting • Simplify, simplify • Allow complex features to degrade gracefully • Examples include alt text for images that do not show and background-colours for background images that do not show • Understand that someone, somewhere will not see it the way you intend and work to make the email communicate anyway IT DOESN’T WORK!
- 13. 03/09/2013 13 YOU DON’T WANT THIS:
- 14. 03/09/2013 14 • The average email metrics for associations include a 98.15% delivery rate, 32.36% open rate, 21.08% click rate, and a .051% unsubscribe rate • Shorter subject lines continue to outperform lengthier subject lines. Subject lines with fewer than 10 characters saw the highest open rates at 51% • Emails containing more links had higher click-thru rates • Email engagement decreases as the list size increases • Statics above and below provided by informz A FEW EMAIL DESIGN STATISTICS
- 15. 03/09/2013 15 WHERE IS EMAIL READ?
- 16. 03/09/2013 16 • Can be complex. There are technical considerations for creating a true responsive email design that are beyond this presentation. Many require style sheets or access to the body tag for which there is not broad client support. • But there are some simple considerations: • Decrease you width. Even a small decrease in width can make elements fit easier into narrower windows. • Reduce your content. Many mobile devices cut off content. • Increase font size and give links space. MOBILE AND RESPONSIVE CONSIDERATIONS
- 17. 03/09/2013 17 ENSURING YOUR MESSAGE IS SEEN
- 18. 03/09/2013 18 DELIVERABILITY • Sender Reputation • Spam filtering • Blacklist Operators • Smart Inboxes What impacts deliverability?
- 19. 03/09/2013 19 STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY • Rise in sender reputation means data quality is of the utmost importance • Permission System – Make sure they want your email • Verify data • Validate Improve Data Collection
- 20. 03/09/2013 20 STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY • Explosion in Phishing and Spoofing • Create Subdomain/Email Domain for Email Send • Implemented Sender-ID/Sender Policy Framework (SDF) Record • Domain Keys Indentified Email (DKIM) Authentication
- 21. 03/09/2013 21 STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY • ISPs use external companies for data to screen lists against • Metrics used: • Broadcast Volumes • Spam Complaints • Bounce Activity • Spam Trap Activity • Blacklisting Monitor Your Reputation
- 22. 03/09/2013 22 STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY List Hygiene • Data Audit before first send • Bounce Management Programme • Spam Traps Complaint Feedback Loops • Allows senders to retrieve spam complaints from each ISP
- 23. 03/09/2013 23 STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY • Monitor Blacklists • Reduce Complaints: • They didn’t subscribe • They didn’t recognize you • They forgot they signed up • You send too many emails • Information isn’t interesting or relevant • The unsubscribe function isn’t easy to find • Reactive vs. proactive Monitor Blacklists/Reduce Complaints
- 24. 03/09/2013 24 STEPS TO IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY • Monitor Inbox vs. Spam folder • Ideal time to monitor display in different inboxs • Email on Acid • Split Testing • Analysis and Segmentation Pre-Broadcast Screening
- 25. 03/09/2013 25 THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING! Be sure to check the website for the recording posting Let your Account Manager know if you have any questions or would like to schedule a session with one of our BBNC experts!